Former Gopher coach Jerry Kill rumored for NMSU job, would play at Minnesota in 2022

(KDLM) – There are still at least two games left in the 2021 Football season for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, but fans are already turning their attention to the 2022 season opener at Huntington Bank Stadium.

Jerry Kill buzz on Twitter exploded on Tuesday after rumors began to swirl that former Gopher coach Jerry Kill was being targeted by New Mexico State to become their next head coach. Kill is currently the interim head coach at TCU after the school fired long-time head coach Gary Patterson. Mario Moccia, who was the athletic director at Southern Illinois while Kill coached there from in the mid-2000s, is now the AD at New Mexico State.

The Gophers open the 2022 season against the New Mexico State Aggies, possibly with former coach Kill on the sidelines.

Kill was the head coach of the Gophers from 2011 until 2015 when he abruptly retired due to health concerns surrounding his epilepsy. He named his top assistant, Tracy Claeys, as his replacement.  Claeys was the head coach for 20 games over two seasons, leading the Gophers to an 11-8 record, including 2-0 in Bowl games. Claeys was fired in 2017 after public outrage over a team-led boycott in response to suspensions of 10 Minnesota football players accused of having a role in a sexual assault case.

The Gophers hired PJ Fleck as his replacement.

Kill was reportedly furious with the move, having coached with Claeys since 1995 and felt Claeys deserved a shot as a head coach. Kill was very critical of coach Fleck, saying in an interview with the Big Ten Network that he didn’t like Fleck’s ego and that his personality had changed since Fleck coached under him at Northern Illinois.

“I won’t be stepping foot back in the stadium,” Kill said. “And I won’t be stepping back into the University.”

That could all change when the Aggies play at Huntington Bank Stadium on September 1, 2022.

The Kill/Fleck beef starts long before Fleck replaced Clayes at Minnesota. Fleck was Kill’s wideout coach at Northern Illinois from 2007-2009

“He coached with me. But after that, he changed a lot, I’ll just be honest with you guys. I mean, the people that have known him before… When he got with [Greg] Schiano, his personality changed a lot.”

Fleck coached with Schiano for three seasons…two as his WR coach at Rutgers from 2010-11, then one season as wideouts coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012 before Fleck was hired as the head coach at Western Michigan, his final coaching destination before being hired by Minnesota in 2017.

“I helped him get the job at Western Michigan…when he went into Minnesota and treated the people the way he treated my guys. Telling them he had to go in and completely change the culture. It was a bad culture and bad people.” Kill said in 2019. “He made it sound like we didn’t know what we were doing… You just don’t treat people that have been with you and helped your career, and you don’t even talk to them once you get the job.”

Since “retiring” in 2015, Kill has served as Associate Athletic Director at Kansas State (2016), offensive coordinator at Rutgers (2017), interim athletic director at Southern Illinois (2018-19) assistant to the head coach at Virginia Tech (2019), assistant to the head coach at TCU (2020-21), and now the interim head coach, where he is 2-1.

New Mexico is one of the toughest jobs in the country, having been Bowl eligible three times in the last 40 years. They are 1-10 in 2021 and are rumored to be moving on from current head coach Doug Martin.

The Aggies are also scheduled to play at Wisconsin on September 17th…a team that Kill is 0-5 against.